The problem here is the divergence of information sources into two groups, and the dedication of each group of information sources to serving its own cause.
Quite true. Although there are differences in degree.
When I was growing up, I was told more right-sided stuff than left-sided stuff; nothing wildly extreme, but enough that left-sided sources tended to run into the "this contradicts what I've been told before" challenge. But I went out of my way to try to pick up the other side's case.
They'd say someone at Fox had said a certain thing. I'd check. That person at Fox actually hadn't said the thing.
In my opinion, based on much reading about Fox. Fox is pretty bad on accuracy, and Fox news routinely has people on it say really stupid crap and nonsense. How about all the election conspiracy crap for example.
They'd say Rush Limbaugh had said a certain thing. I'd check. Limbaugh actually hadn't said the thing.
The truth and Rush are light years away from each other. Rush in the past and today routinely says stupid nonsense.
They'd say President Bush had said or done a certain thing. I'd check. Bush actually hadn't said or done the thing.
Bush Jr's record speaks for itself and it isn't pretty.
They'd say something about a certain law or a court case. I'd check. The law didn't say what they said it said and what happened in the court case wasn't what they'd said had happened.
Yawn. Just like the "Conservative" media accurately described the Russian investigation and Mueller Report. (Snark)
They'd say something about a particular scientific study or survey. I'd check. The study/survey hadn't found what they'd said it had found.
I guess the routine lies in "Conservative" media about climate change and the promotion of many of them of Creationistic doesn't exist. And they do the exact thing you have described above routinely.
It wasn't just the news sources. I never did join a politics forum, but some that I did join had a political section. I'd try interacting with Democrats/liberals/progressives there. They'd tell me that my argument was something I hadn't argued. They'd tell me I felt things I didn't feel. I'd explain repeatedly what my positions actually were and they'd ignore it and respond as if trying to convince my that I simply must think & feel what they apparently wanted me to because some other thing they'd heard somewhere else about monsters like me proved it, like a Christian telling an atheist that atheists really know that God is real because Romans 1 says they do. They'd pile on more of the usual claims about famous figures & issues. I got tired of checking because I'd learned what the outcome always was.
Isn't it amazing how differently people can think about the world. The above paragraph describes exactly how I have been treated by so-called "Conservatives", who would routinely lie, distort and twist what I say and when I would check their claims I would find a vast swamp of distortion and lies.
I wasn't even conservative, but kept ending up on the side of discussions/arguments that the lefties called conservative anyway, just because I wanted sound rational arguments from them and the ones I kept getting instead were always either obvious lies (particularly false accusations about me/us, thrown at me as if I could possibly be fooled about myself) or at least potentially honest but then just inane blithering nonsense.
I got inane blithering nonsense all the time from so-called "Conservatives", usually accusations I was a "Communist", a "Marxist", "Cultural" or otherwise. THat I would burn in hell etc. And a bucketful of utter lies.
What would be your assessment of the information sources of the people who kept trotting out the same worn-out false accusations & other lies at every turn like that? It would push you farther away from those claims & sources, and more against the people who used them. And then, once you know that the other side's information sources are worthless and their claims are worthless, there's only one side left for you to get your information from.
The above describes my experience with so-called "Conservatives" and their sources exactly. Full of false accusations and lies. (Just read The Epoch Times.) The sheer amount of worthless sources was amazing. (Breitbart anyone.)
There's nothing stupid about disregarding what you're told by sources that have repeatedly proven themselves false (not to mention hostile) and accepting what you're told by the ones that haven't. There are a couple of mistakes in that process, but they're subtle ones that you don't need to be stupid to slip on. (For example, the principle that if people had a better argument for their case then they'd use it so the fact that they only spout lies & nonsense indicates that their side doesn't have anything better; it seems pretty simple & straightforward but it's not totally reliable.)
In my experience so-called "Conservatives" use sources that routinely distort and lie and have been proven false over and over again. Has for spouting nonsense and lies, well that has been a pet project of people like Rush and Alex and so much so-called "Conservative" media. To me it is simply straightforward that so-called "Conservative" media is full of bull crap. (As indicated by their recent coverage of imaginary Election "fraud".)
Truly we are seeing here two versions of reality.
